The present disclosure relates to query processing. In particular, it relates to creating useful search query suggestions.
Information retrieval systems, such as Internet search engines, help users by retrieving information, such as web pages, images, text documents and multimedia content, in response to queries. Search engines use a variety of signals to determine the relevance of the retrieved content to the user's query.
Formulating a query that accurately represents the user's informational need can be challenging. Search engines may suggest queries to the user, to help the user. Some search engines provide query suggestions to the user as the user is typing a query, essentially completing the query by typing ahead for the user.
The queries suggested by the search engine often are taken from past user queries. However, as new and updated documents are made available, thereby increasing the breadth of accessible information, the information coverage represented by the past user queries can quickly become stale and out-of-date. For example, an ever-growing document collection such as the World Wide Web may include accessible information that has not been previously requested via the past user queries. As a result, a user seeking information outside the coverage of the past user queries, may not be provided with useful query suggestions. This can frustrate the user and result in a poor user experience.